The anniversary of the birth of an outstanding Italian writer

Today is the 89th anniversary of the birth of one of the greatest and the most famous Italian writers of the twentieth century about whose the best-known book "The Name of the Rose" you surely heard about and some of you may have also read it.

Umberto Eco was born on 5^th January 1932 in Alessandria in Piedmont in the north Italy. He was a professor at the University of Florence and the University of Bologna. He was a well-known essayist, intellectual and literary theorist. He became a world famous author thanks to the novel "The Name of the Rose" published in 1980 for which in 1984 he received the prestigious Italian literary award - Strega Prize. His novel was also adapted in 1986 and one of the lead roles was played by Sean Connery. He reportedly predicted that he would sell around 3,000 copies of the book and in fact it was translated into 44 languages and more than 30 million copies were sold! The writer died of pancreatic cancer on 19^th February 2016 at the age of 86.

source: https://www.wantedinmilan.com/news/umberto-eco-to-be-commemorated-in-milan.html

Umberto Eco left a great void in the world of literature. Many times he was mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature and some people are surprised by the fact that he never received this prestigious prize even though he is more famous than some of Italian Nobel Prize winners.

The writer was also a famous bibliophile and his private library had about 30,000 copies of the books he collected! In the link below you can visit his library.

On the anniversary of his birthday it is worth mentioning this outstanding Italian writer and perhaps to remember or get to know his work and spend a while on one of his novels or essays.

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